ArticleBMJ open2021
Prospective characterisation of SARS-CoV-2 infections among children presenting to tertiary paediatric hospitals across Australia in 2020: a national cohort study.
Article in BMJ open, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- Kawasaki Disease in Canada: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic.CJC pediatric and congenital heart disease · 2025Article
- Risk Groups for Vaccine-Preventable Respiratory Infections in Children and Adults: An Overview of the Australian Environment.Vaccines · 2025Review
- Pulmonary Function and Associated Prognostic Factors in Children After COVID-19: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Observational
- The seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies in Australian children: A cross-sectional study.PloS one · 2024Article
- Why has the epidemiology of RSV changed during the COVID-19 pandemic?EClinicalMedicine · 2023Review
- Arrhythmia and COVID-19 in children.Clinical and experimental pediatrics · 2023Article
- COVID-19 related ICU admissions in paediatric and young adult patients in Australia: a national case series 2020-2022.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2023Article
- Lower risk of Multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) with the omicron variant.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2022Article
- COVID-19 in New South Wales children during 2021: severity and clinical spectrum.The Medical journal of Australia · 2022Article
- Balancing the medical and social needs of children during the COVID-19 pandemic.The Medical journal of Australia · 2022Article
- Clinical Characteristics of Children With SARS-CoV-2 Infection in a Hospital in Latin America.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2022Article
- The COVID-19 pandemic in children and young people during 2020-2021: Learning about clinical presentation, patterns of spread, viral load, diagnosis and treatment.Journal of global healthArticle
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Authors and funding
21 authors at 13 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo present Australia-wide data on paediatric COVID-19 and multisystem inflammatory syndromes to inform health service provision and vaccination prioritisation.
designProspective, multicentre cohort study.
settingEight tertiary paediatric hospitals across six Australian states and territories in an established research surveillance network-Paediatric Active Enhanced Disease (PAEDS).
participantsAll children aged <19 years with SARS-CoV-2 infection including COVID-19, Paediatric Inflammatory Multisystem Syndrome Temporally Associated with SARS-CoV-2 (PIMS-TS) and Kawasaki-like disease TS infection (KD-TS) treated at a PAEDS site from 24 March 2020 to 31 December 2020.
interventionLaboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. MAIN OUTCOME: Incidence of severe disease among children with COVID-19, PIMS-TS and KD-TS. We also compared KD epidemiology before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
resultsAmong 386 children with SARS-CoV-2 infection, 381 (98.7%) had COVID-19 (median 6.3 years (IQR 2.1-12.8),53.3% male) and 5 (1.3%) had multisystem inflammatory syndromes (PIMS-TS, n=4; KD-TS, n=1) (median 7.9 years (IQR 7.8-9.8)). Most children with COVID-19 (n=278; 73%) were Australian-born from jurisdictions with highest community transmission. Comorbidities were present in 72 (18.9%); cardiac and respiratory comorbidities were most common (n=32/72;44%). 37 (9.7%) children with COVID-19 were hospitalised, and two (0.5%) required intensive care. Postinfective inflammatory syndromes (PIMS-TS/KD-TS) were uncommon (n=5; 1.3%), all were hospitalised and three (3/5; 60%) required intensive care management. All children recovered and there were no deaths. KD incidence remained stable during the pandemic compared with prepandemic.
conclusionsMost children with COVID-19 had mild disease. Severe disease was less frequent than reported in high prevalence settings. Preventative strategies, such as vaccination, including children and adolescents, could reduce both the acute and postinfective manifestations of the disease.
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